Doctors revealed that Omicron Covid has only been found in mild cases in several Christmas revelers infected by Omicron Covid.
A week ago, 60 people fell ill at a party in Oslo. Some have headaches or sore throats. Others have a cold.
Tine Ravlo is the chief physician in the area where the virus was discovered. He said that the symptoms were similar to those reported from South Africa.
However, Omicron’s potential for being more dangerous than Delta is not yet known. The infected children are all young, and they have been believed to be vaccinated. This combination usually causes milder symptoms.
Omicron Covid was found in 60 Norwegians at Christmas. All are currently showing mild symptoms. (pictured: Norway’s Covid total).
Ravlo stated that everyone infected at this party, which included employees from South African renewable energy firm Scatec was currently recuperating at home.
After several workers who recently traveled to Scatec in Cape Town, the Olso Omicron outbreak (currently the largest known Omicron epidemic) occurred.
Fivety-five of those present at the Scatec party were positive to a PCR test. They are now confirmed Covid case cases. Ten others have positive results on a lateralflow, meaning that they are suspects but are not confirmed.
Only one Omicron case has been identified using genetic sequencing, while 10-15 Omicrons have already been declared.
However, all cases can be assumed to have the same variant. Sequencing tests are expected to continue soon.
Mr Ravlo said the ‘incubation period’ of the new variant – the time from infection to first symptoms – appears to be two to four days.
This is a lot less than for the other Covid varieties, which would make it easier to detect outbreaks – although the data are still preliminary.
Ravlo said that so far all of the Oslo infections have been traced to Christmas Party and no evidence has shown any other spread.
The Christmas party was held in a closed room but the guests reportedly mingled with other people in the restaurant after 10:30pm, when it turned into a nightclub (pictured, inside Louise Restaurant & Bar)
50 people tested positive on a PCR test and 10 from a lateral flow following Norwegian renewable energy company Scatec’s Christmas party at Louise Restaurant & Bar (pictured) in Aker Brygge, Oslo, on Friday
The infections occurred in two people who were not at the party, which took place in a private space. However they were present in the larger restaurant. They were found infected around 10.30pm and started to mix with guests.
There were 10 waiters at the table, however none of them have been found to be positive.
Norway has a high percentage of fully-vaccinated citizens, with 71% more than Brits (69%) or Americans (59%) who’ve had both shots.
Tine Ravlo was the assistant chief infection control physician in Frogner District. She said that a preliminary examination of samples from cases showed it to be Omicron.
She stated that the samples had been sent for sequencing to confirm Omicron.
Head of the infection tracking team in Oslo west, Jorum Thaulow, told Avisa Oslo: ‘We have not received it definitively confirmed, but there are very strong indications that it is Omicron in this outbreak.’
Thaulow stated that all cases were treated like they had the Omicron virus and instructed to isolate for seven days. About 41 people infected are currently in Oslo.
The authorities quickly sought out close contact information of employees in order to put them into quarantine. They also warned everyone present at Oslo Bar between 10:45 on Friday and 3:00 on Saturday that they would be isolating.
One of the infected people was seen in the community at the Old Irish Pub in Majorstuen on Saturday night. The Oslo Municipality encouraged all those who were there between 10pm – 1am to go to quarantine.
The city released a statement saying that Omicron has been confirmed in one case, but there are more.
“We work actively with contact trace to reduce the spread of disease and avoid larger outbreaks.”
This Wednesday saw the detection of its two first Omicron coronavirus cases in the Nordic nation.
Jonas Gahr Stoere, Prime Minister of Norway is scheduled to host a news conference on Thursday.
It comes after a spokesperson for the World Health Organisation yesterday said early data suggests the mutant strain is better at infecting people than Delta, even the fully vaccinated.
But the official, speaking anonymously, told Reuters, most cases only cause ‘mild symptoms’ and that there is no evidence the new variant has any impact on vaccine effectiveness against serious illness.
This is the first hint by Omicron that it may not be causing as much havoc worldwide as previously thought.
Omicron fears aside, South Africa still has far fewer Covid cases per capita than the UK or US.
The Oxford University Research Platform Our World in Data indicates that South Africa has 46 cases for every million inhabitants, compared with 628 in Britain and 246 in the US. The number of cases in South Africa is on the rise, but they have a modest start.
So far, only 172 Omicron cases have been confirmed in South Africa and doctors there maintain that patients with the new variant are presenting with milder symptoms than previous strains — even though daily cases have soared 400 per cent in a week to 4,373 yesterday.
